Towards a total museology April 21-25
THE MUSEUM COURSES
2008
Course Presentation CosmoCaixa, the new science museum of “la Caixa” Social Programme in Barcelona, opened its doors in October 2004 and in three years received some 6 million visitors, as well as recognition by the European Museum Forum with the prize for European Museum of the Year 2006. CosmoCaixa is an attempt at a new museology that meets all the challenges of 21st century society. The project is a test-bed for new techniques in employing exhibition space, methods and criteria, raised and discussed over two years at international forums and tested in both temporary and travelling exhibitions. This new museology, which we have called total museology to spur us on, is visible today in CosmoCaixa. This fourth year of activities initiates the project evaluation process, the reason for which we have decided to offer this course, because what matters in a museum is not only that people visit it, but also that they return. The times are changing in this discipline precisely at a moment when a new profession is beginning to acquire shape and identity: that of museologist. We do not seek to establish a dogma; we simply set out to explain what we have discovered, in terms of both theory and practice, during twenty years of intense scientific museum studies. The course has been offered for the last ten years by the University of Barcelona. This is the third year of its presentation at the international level, restructured and adapted to the Museum’s new resources and facilities.
Course director Jorge Wagensberg Physicist at the University of Barcelona and Director of the Department of Science and the Environment of “la Caixa” Foundation
Course Glossary Theory classes - The three forms of knowledge: science, art and revelation. - The three phases of acquiring knowledge and the forms of transmission. - Images to transmit knowledge. - The beautiful and the intelligible. A conversation between art and science. - What is a museum? Definition of a modern science museum. - Architecture for a museum. - Exhibitions. Basic principles of modern scientific museology. - Scenography. - Activities. The museum as a citizen’s university.
Workshops A museology for the 21st century. The making of the “Vive la Différence!” exhibition. The entire process, from the first idea to the complex task of evaluation. From the accessories (texts, audiovisuals, drawings, storyboards, multimedia) to the complementary activities. Work in progress; exhibitions: Remodelling of the Permanent Exhibition Hall of CosmoCaixa Madrid, and “Climate Change”.
Field work - Museum exhibition halls: a first encounter between theory and museology. - Collections at the museum: conversation-object-phenomenon, object-phenomenon-scenography. - Geological Wall, Flooded Forest. - Visits to the museographical infrastructure. - Visits to the prototype and testing rooms
Workshops Presentation of museum workshops for the general public. Concert by BA.O.BA.B (Baschet Orchestra Barcelona-Brussels) in the Physics and Music exhibition.
Course program
Monday 21 April 10 am
Introduction to the course by Jorge Wagensberg Director of the Department of Science and the Environment of “la Caixa” Social Programme
10.15 am
THE THREE FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE: science, art and revelation Jorge Wagensberg - Scientific knowledge. The scientific method: Principle of Objectivity. Principle of Intelligibility. Dialectical Principle. Universality of scientific knowledge. The progress of scientific knowledge. - Artistic knowledge. Principle of the communicability of art. The beautiful and the intelligible. Understanding versus intuiting. The scientific intuitions of artists. The artistic understandings of scientists. - Revealed knowledge. Intuition and belief. Understanding versus believing.
11 am
Coffee
11.15 am
THE THREE PHASES OF KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION stimuli, conversation and understanding Jorge Wagensberg - Stimuli, the guarantee of a vital necessity. The physical world of stimuli. The physiological and cerebral world of stimuli: perception and the five senses. The cultural world of the senses: mental joy as a midpoint between offence to and frustration of the brain. - Conversation, the exchange of ideas between a mind and something else. Conversation in science. Conversing with reality: seeing, looking, observing, experimenting and simulating. Conversing with oneself, pondering. Conversing with another. Conversing in art. Conversing with beliefs. Theory, experience and simulation. Emotion versus understanding. - Understanding in physics: laws and equations. Understanding in geology: reconstructing the past. Understanding in chemistry: transformations and structures. Understanding in biology: mechanisms and innovation. Understanding in history, sociology, economy, politics... The gaps in the scientific method are filled in with the paste of ideology.
12 midday Conversation 12.30 pm
A CONVERSATION BETWEEN ART AND SCIENCE. THE EXHIBITION AS CONDENSATION, RADIATION AND INTERPRETATION Rosa Martínez Director of the Venice Biennale 2005 and Chief Curator of the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art
2 pm
Break
3.30 pm
EXHIBITIONS: THE METHOD Hernán Crespo Architect
4.30 pm
Conversation
5 pm
Coffee
5.30 pm
EXHIBITIONS Jorge Wagensberg The real object. Degrees of reality of an object. The real phenomenon. Degrees of reality of a phenomenon. The dialogue between object and object (the “hyper display case”, a new concept). The dialogue between object and phenomenon. The dialogue between phenomenon and phenomenon. The object-phenomenon-exhibit design dialogue. Three-way interactivity (manual, mental and cultural). The object-phenomenon-exhibit design-visitor dialogue: an approximation to a special dialogue: sudden understanding. Long-term exhibitions. Short- and medium-term temporary exhibitions
Tuesday 22 April 10 am
ARCHITECTURE Robert Terrades Codirector of the Arquitectes Terrades studio, the firm responsible for the CosmoCaixa project, Hernán Crespo, Jorge Wagensberg Architecture as the result of dialogue between museologists and architects. Spatial hierarchies as they affect a single visitor, a group that can converse amongst themselves… up to the entire audience present. Museographic emblems. Museum exteriors. Relation between interior and exterior. Art in the science museum.
11 am
Conversation
11.30 am
Coffee
12 midday EPHEMERAL ARCHITECTURE (provisional title) Dani Freixes Interior designer and winner of the National Design Prize 2001 1 pm
Conversation
1.30 pm
Break
3 pm
THE MAKING OF “VIVE LA DIFFÉRENCE!” Workshop Augusto Saavedra Architect, Director of the Ámbito 0 studio Jorge Wagensberg How is an exhibition conceived, planned and produced? The players: the museologist, the expert, the exhibit designer, the technical designer, the graphic designer, the producer, partner companies. Progressing through dialogue. -
Writing the script. Overall approach, structure of sections, scientific guidance Design, conceptual approach Towards the final design Developing prototypes for interactive experiments Design: graphic image Production: technical complexity
5 pm
Coffee
5.30 pm
The museum as a building: general services Joan Bayona Director of the technical department. Hospital Pere Virgili
6.30 pm
Visit to the prototype room Laureano Agout Production department of the “la Caixa” Foundation Ignasi López, Álex Pérez, Carles Schnabel, Marta Solsona
Wednesday 23 April 10 am
COLLECTIONS Marta Solsona Geologist, curator of collections, Department of Science and the Environment of the “la Caixa” Foundation Why a collection? How are our collections created? Scientific research in a museum. Museological innovation. Educational science research. “Jorge Caridad”
10.30 am
FIELD WORK IN THE COLLECTIONS Conversation-object-phenomenon, object-phenomenon-exhibit design Marta Solsona and museum guides
11.15 am
Coffee
11.45 am
THE GEOLOGICAL WALL AND THE FLOODED FOREST Marta Solsona, Álex Pérez, Jorge Wagensberg
12.45 pm
FIELD WORK: visit to the Flooded Forest and the Geological Wall Marta Solsona, Álex Pérez, Jorge Wagensberg and museum guides
1.30 pm
Break
2 pm
ST. GEORGE’S DAY Afternoon free Visit to the city on the most beautiful day of the year
Thursday 24 April 10 am
WORK IN PROGRESS Remodelling of CosmoCaixa Madrid Jesús Moreno Architect and director of the Jesús Moreno y asociados studio Jorge Wagensberg
11.30 am
Coffee
12.30 pm
CosmoCaixa in the World Jorge Wagensberg -
Project of the National Museum of Science and Technology, Beijing, China Project of the Antarctic Museum in Punta Arenas, Chile Project of the Transport Museum, Malaga, Spain Project of the Museum of the Future, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1.30 pm
Break
3.30 pm
Texts in a museum / Publications - Texts: the exhibition text as a new literary genre in itself. Audiovisuals. Ambrosio García Leal Biologist and science writer - Publications: the leaflet guide and the exhibition catalogue Ignasi Fernández Segade Graphic Designer, director of the Excèntric Comunicació studio
5 pm
Coffee
5.30 pm
Theatre in the Museum - Performance of a sketch from the work It’s Identical But It’s Not the Same, about Darwin, currently forming part of the programme at CosmoCaixa Mireia Chalamanch Actress - Conversation between Mireia Chalamanch and Jorge Wagensberg
6.30 pm
Conversation
Friday 25 April 10 am
New museographic resources: - The scientific metaphor - Accentuating reality Jorge Wagensberg
11.30 am
Conversation
12 midday Coffee 12.30 pm
From the scientific project to the museographic project: the underwater acoustic map of Catalonia Michel AndrĂŠ Biologist, Institute of the Laboratory of Applied Bio-Acoustics, UPC
1.30 pm
Conversation
2 pm
Break
3.30 pm
The museum as a citizen’s university Jorge Wagensberg Creating public opinion. The museum as meeting place. The museum as tool for social change. The museum as shared space for four social sectors: the scientific community (where science is created), the production and service sector (where science is put to use), society (where science is enjoyed and endured) and the administration (where science is managed). The concept of the auditorium and other meeting rooms. Presentation of various examples. Lecture seasons, symposiums, courses, seminars, debates...
4.30 pm
Coffee
5 pm
CLOSING LECTURE TRUTH AND BEAUTY IN MATHEMATICS Sir Michael Atiyah Mathematician, Honorary Professor of the University of Edinburgh, Fields Medal 1966, Abel Prize 2004. Ex-president of the Royal Society, former professor at the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
7 pm
Closure of the course Concert by BA.O.BA.B (Baschet Orchestra Barcelona-Brussels) in the Physics and Music exhibition
Lecturers Rosa Martínez Independent curator, Director of the Venice Biennale 2005 and chief curator at the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art Dani Freixes Architect and exhibition designer, winner of the National Design Prize 2001 Augusto Saavedra Architect and exhibition designer Jesús Moreno Architect and exhibition designer Robert Terrades Architect Michel André Biologist, Institute of the Laboratory of Applied Bio-Acoustics, UPC Ambrosio García Leal, Biologist and science writer Ignasi Férnandez Graphic designer Mireia Chalamanch Actress Joan Bayona Technical From the “la Caixa” Foundation Laureano Agout R+D Hernán Crespo Architect Ignasi López Physicist Álex Pérez Biologist Marta Solsona Geologist Jorge Wagensberg Physicist
Registration On-line registration: www.laCaixa.es/Obrasocial Price: Reduced price:
46 euros 31 euros
COSMOCAIXA Teodor Roviralta, 47-51 I Barcelona 08022 VISITOR SERVICE Phone (+34) 93 212 60 50 I Fax (+34) 93 253 74 73 savicosmocaixabcn@fundaciolacaixa.es OPENING TIMES Open Tuesday to Sunday 10 to 20 h. Closed Mondays (except public holidays) and December 26 and January 1 and 6 ENTRANCES Ronda de Dalt between calle Císter and Avinguda del Tibidabo (exits 6 and 7). Calle Quatre Camins, 89. TRANSPORTS 17 I 22 I 58 I 60 I 73 I 75 I 196 Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Avinguda del Tibidabo station) Tramvia Blau (Blue Tram) Entrance on carrer dels Quatre Camins, 89 Coaches: Ronda de Dalt opposite CosmoCaixa MUSEUM SHOP Laie-CosmoCaixa CAFETERIA-RESTAURANT Arcasa-CosmoCaixa Free access to Plaça de la Ciència, the Cafeteria-Restaurant and the Museu Shop INFORMATION SERVICE OBRA SOCIAL FUNDACIÓ “LA CAIXA” Phone (+34) 93 495 39 45 Monday to Sunday 9 to 20 h www.laCaixa.es/ObraSocial
COURSE INFORMATION
REGISTRATION www.laCaixa.es/ObraSocial Places limited There will be simultaneous translation Free entrance to the museum with the course registration (valid during the course)
Design: excèntric - Photo: Sergi Margalef
PRICE 46 euros - Reduced price 31 euros